Sport

Amlin Cup can launch new Wasps era - Young

DAI Young hopes glory in Europe this year will launch a new era of success for Wasps.

They haven’t won any silverware for six years after winning eight trophies in the previous six years.

But while Young admits his team are already ahead of schedule in terms of their development, he says winning a trophy would accelerate their progress even further.

He said: “Getting to a final and possibly winning something would be a real confidence boost for this young group because, let’s be honest, very few people here have actually won something.

“James Haskell in the early days, maybe Tom Palmer and Andy Goode when he was at Leicester...but most of the players have either come from The Championship or from struggling teams around us.

“There aren’t many here with the experience of winning. They’ve experienced the hardships of being in dogfights so this would be a new experience and an experience which would kick them on greatly.”

Young does have fond memories of this competition after leading Cardiff to victory in 2010.

He said: “The squad I had at Cardiff was coming to the end of journey whereas here we’re at the beginning of the journey.

“At Cardiff I had 30 and 40-cap internationals, a few All Black internationals...that squad was coming to an end by then, but I remember the first trophy we won was the EDF and you could see how much it kicked on the squad and how much confidence it gave them.

“That’s something this squad needs over the next year or so and if we could do it now that would be fantastic.”

For Wasps, the next trophy might be the sweetest after living through the adage that the higher you rise the greater the fall.

Young said: “Sometimes I think people from outside lose sense of all reality and think that because it’s Wasps we should be winning things. They don’t look at where we are.

“It’s been a case of people looking at where they think we should be and not the reality of where we are.

“But we’ve improved and we’re going in the right direction and as proud of our history and tradition as we are, we’d like to start making our own way. Getting to the final would be a real mark of how far we’ve come.”